Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dirty Britain
Before the grass has thickened on the roadside verges and leaves have
started growing on the trees is a perfect time to look around and see just
how dirty Britain has become. The pavements are stained with chewing gum
that has been spat out and the gutters are full of discarded fast food cartons.
Years ago I remember travelling abroad and being saddened by the plastic
bags, discarded bottles and soiled nappies at the edge of every road.
Nowadays, Britain seems to look at least as bad. What has
gone wrong?
The problem is that the rubbish created by our increasingly mobile lives lasts
a lot longer than before. If it is not cleared up and properly thrown away, it
stays in the undergrowth for years; a semi-permanent reminder of what a
tatty little country we have now.
What is clearly necessary right now is some sort of combined initiative, both
individual and collective, before it is too late. The alternative is to continue
sliding downhill until we have a country that looks like a vast municipal
rubbish tip. We may well be at the tipping point. Yet we know that people
respond to their environment. If things around them are clean and tidy,
people behave cleanly and tidily. If they are surrounded by squalor, they
behave squalidly. Now, much of Britain looks pretty squalid. What will it look
like in five years?
The writer says that it is a good time to see Britain before the trees have leaves
because
Britain looks perfect.
better abroad.
made no attempt to follow the Irish example with a tax on plastic bags.
had problems with the plastics industry who weren't bothered about the tax.
The writer thinks
it is too late to do anything.
there is no alternative.